Pre kindergarten lesson plans for sight words are most effective when they include activities. These activities are very helpful when students begin to learn sight words.

Dolch Sight Words for Pre-Kindergarten

Most people would agree that the Dolch sight words are the words that you need to start with when working with pre kindergarten children. The Dolch list is 220 words that show up most frequently in written text, and they are divided into grade levels and all are introduced by third grade. These are the words that children need to learn by sight, both through the letters and the shape of the word, in order to become fluent readers.

Pre Kindergarten Lesson Plans for Sight Words

When preparing pre kindergarten lesson plans sight words, you need to remember that small children learn best through play and a variety of activities. Since their attention span is so short, activities need to be short and varied. There is nothing wrong with rote memorization, as long as the session is short and repeated daily. This lesson plan can be used every day with a new sight word.

Here is an example of pre kindergarten lesson plans for sight words listed by activity:

Activity 1: Start with a quick run through, or two, of flash cards with the 40 pre-primer Dolch sight words.

Activity 2: Bean Bag Toss: Have the flash cards strewn around the floor and let each child toss the bean bag onto a word. The student reads the word, with help from the class if needed, and makes a sentence with the word. The students will need a lot of help at first, but will soon get the hang of it.

Activity 3: Read a story and point out the sight words. There are stories available online to help with this, but any story will do. This would work especially well if the story is in big book format, or you have written it on a chart with the sight words highlighted.

Activity 4: Have the students sit at desks or tables and have a laminated card with a sight word printed on it with big letters. Have them take Play Do, make a long snake, and form the letters. You could also use licorice, which can make this lesson tasty as well.

Activity 5: Sight Word Snowball Fight. Write the words that have been taught so far on a piece of paper and crumple it into a snowball. Let the children play for a bit, then ring a bell or blow a whistle for them to stop. Everyone has to pick up the snowball nearest to them and read the word.